Viñales valley, rum and sigars.

Pinar del Rio Travel Blog

The first full day of our tour we were haeding towards Pinar del Rio and the Viñales Valley. After a nice breakfast we had a relative early start for the 2.5 hour journey to Pinar.

In Pinar del Rio we first stopped at a sigar factory; unfortunatly we weren't allowed to take pictures there. But the craftsmanship of the ladies and gents working there is amazing; I also loved the smell of fresh tabacco.

Later we got a small rum tasting: a local rum/liquor called Guabita; there are to variaties of it. One is a bit rum like, bitter, and the other is more liquor, sweeter, reminding me of Licor 43. We got a small tour through the fabric as well. Mind you, the rum tasting was well before our lunch!

Pinar is a small town, with lots of characteristic coulourfull houses, and loads of old timers. And of course grannies in flowered dresses, with large sigars (who quite know what to charge for a picture!)

From Pinar we drove to the Viñales Valley, part of UNESCO world heritage. And I understand why: it's simply stunning and gives you a feeling of traveling back in time.

We had our lunch in the valley, followed by a walk and an boat trip through some caves; again I felt like traveling back in time, expecting a dinosaur to pop up.

Time flies when having fun, so it was back to Havana already for a nice shower, diner and a very good massage at the hotel.